3rd EyE Jewels: If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would own my own company creating hand painted and hand crafted jewelry, I would have laughed at you. However, now I can reflect back and look at various occurrences that lead to the creation of 3rd EyE Jewels. I didn’t know at the time, but a lot of different events made this all happen out of nowhere. I didn’t think I was an artist, I was always a lover fashion and jewelry but had NO clue I could make my own. I was working in corporate America with a great company and had a very successful career. I worked for the same company for 8 years advancing and being promoted throughout my tenure. I remember being such a loyal employee that I would go to work even when I was sick and often staying over my regular 8 hour shift. I will never forget the day I came into work and read via “E-mail” that a portion of the company was sold to another company and I was sold along with the deal. I went to work for the other company, for 3 years. I established their compliance program and trained employees only to have my job outsourced to India. I began creating earrings and jewelry in my new founded spare time for myself and friends. One day over drinks my friend and I was talking and she encouraged me to start my own business. That encouragement motivated me to go all out and spend my time painting and creating different types of conscious jewelry (at the time mainly RBG). With the backing and support of my mother (My Goddess) and the encouragement from friends, I found the confidence to start promoting my product. I started a website and attending various vending events throughout the Atlanta area. However, I was still searching for employment during this time. After 18 ½ months of being without a “job”, I was hired on with a small company. Boy was I happy because the regular money was back rolling in and I could once again live how I had become accustomed to. Having your own business doesn’t bring the steady income of a 9 to 5. This caused me to start losing focus of the vision I had for 3rd Eye Jewels. I was back in the good old corporate America spirt and had put my DREAMS on the back burner. I worked for this company for 11 months only to go to work to find out that the company had been sold and we were all laid off. I couldn’t do anything but laugh as I realized that my relationship with corporate America reminded me of a toxic relationship that one would have with a boyfriend. And I didn’t like the feeling of that. Needless to say this was the last straw for me and my corporate America dreams. This is not the time of my parents where you worked the same job for 40 plus years and retire. Things change and I now think it’s time for more entrepreneurship to be encouraged. With the internet, social media and hard work your dreams can become reality if you believe. There was a time when entrepreneurship was encouraged and you had more of it. We are now heading back to those times, vending events with hand made goods are becoming more popular and the term “popupshop” has been in heavy rotation throughout social media and event forums. I began again focusing my time and devoted myself to building and branding my company. I learned that I needed to keep it simple with my lifestyle and became more aware of my spending and started investing in my company rather than that purse. Is this easy? No, each day I am still working toward building my brand and the story is to be continued. If you can work hard for others why not put that hard work in for yourself and believe in your dreams regardless of what they are. Thank you for reading and please come back for the follow up. Believe in your dreams and DEPEND on YOU! *Create your own wealth and encourage entrepreneurship the same as you would a corporate America job* The story continues………..
3rd Eye Jewels: Why did you start your own business?
